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Flanders Park expected to open this fall

Aileen Wingblad Staff Writer
Published 4:44 p.m. ET June 23, 2016

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Construction continues at Riverwalk of Farmington, on the former Flanders Elementary School site. The City of Farmington has $40,000 budgeted for a neighborhood park there.(Photo11: John Stormzand | Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

It’s a bit later than initially predicted but Farmington’s new neighborhood park, Flanders Park, is expected to be open and ready for visitors this fall.

As home construction continues at the Riverwalk of Farmington development on the former Flanders Elementary School site, Kevin Christiansen, Farmington’s economic and community development director, said Thursday attorneys are working on documentation for 2.25 acres of the land to be dedicated to the city.

“We hope to complete dedication and conveyance of the property very shortly, with acceptance by the city council to follow,” he said.

Giving the parcel to the city for a park is one of the stipulations in the site plan and planned unit development agreement with Riverwalk’s developer, Windmill Homes, which is building 33 houses on the property, northeast of Eight Mile and Farmington roads.

Meanwhile, the playground equipment that the city retained from the school yard is being evaluated for safety and usefulness for the new park, Christiansen said. Farmington has $40,000 in its Capital Improvements fund for Flanders Park.

“I know lots of residents are very anxious to see it completed – we are, too,” he said.

Among them is Sarah Davies, who grew up in Farmington and Farmington Hills, and wants to organize a good-sized celebration for the park’s opening. It was Davies’ initiative last year which resulted in Windmill Homes’ Stuart Michaelson agreeing to pay for a tree planting and plaque or other commemoration in honor of Flanders Elementary School for the new park. Davies contacted Michaelson in May 2015 after noticing an Austrian pine had been removed from the property to make way for the new houses – a tree she and her Flanders classmates had planted about 25 years ago.

For more than a year now, Davies has been waiting for city officials to announce a date for the park opening so she can plan her event – and has plenty of people interested in helping out, she said. Last June, Christiansen said the park might be ready in the fall of 2015 or this spring.

“It’s upsetting that another spring and summer are going by and the kids (who live nearby) don’t have anywhere to play,” Davies said. “I’m looking for the city to reach back out to me so I can continue to plan for this event...with the delay, lots of residents are reaching out to me and want this to be an even bigger event.”

Anyone interested in participating in the celebration can contact Davies through her Facebook page, Keep Farmington Beautiful.

More information on Flanders Park is in the city’s proposed 2016 Recreation Master Plan, to be reviewed by the planning commission July 11. The draft plan is on the city’s website http://www.ci.farmington.mi.us/.